Tag Archives: service

Remember the goal of life. It is not for gain, but for giving. By giving, we purify the ego and ultimately transcend the illusion of fear and the illusion of separateness and we realize our Oneness with One and All.

Giving, Giving, Giving.

Totally let go of concern about personal gain, and, “What’s in it for me?” Instead, only think of, “How can I serve? What can I give?” Giving, giving, giving.

Let your life always be about giving, every moment focus on it. Forget about gaining anything for yourself. Trust that in your alignment with serving and giving every moment, you’ll be provided for by that which you’re serving and giving to. Ultimately, you are not serving and giving to anyone personally, but you are serving and giving to the All, so the All will take care of you. Trust completely – and through direct experience, by totally alignment with a spirit of service, giving, and generosity – very soon you will know beyond a doubt that you are taken care of.

As the saying goes, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all else shall be added unto you.” What do you think is the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness? The Kingdom of God is freedom from all fear, and all fear arises from the illusion of separateness, thinking that we have to focus on gaining for ourselves to survive and keep on living. In the Kingdom of God, we are free from all fear and sense of separateness; we are One and Eternally Safe and Supported. And what happens when we know we are Eternally Safe? His Righteousness! What is His Righteousness? Giving, giving, giving. Serving, loving, giving.

When we really we are safe and supported no matter what, then we give up the silliness of focusing on personally gaining and acquiring things for ourselves; we realize the great joy and freedom of living only to serve the entire creation and all humanity. We transcend all petty-mindedness and connect with our True Nature which is in everyone and everything. There is nothing to fear. There is simply joy waiting forever, waiting for us to realize it when we surrender our ego and our fear and open to the grace and glory of God – which is the freedom from worry over any ‘person,’ and instead living for the sake of living, because living is inherently joyful. Only when the ego stirs up all kinds of stories and dwells on the past and worries about the future do we lose touch with the inherent Joy always present.

Joy is ever present, available to us always. It is what we are. We don’t have to do anything for joy. We simply have to be aware to not get caught in any illusions that would disturb our awareness of the Joy. One of the grand mistakes and illusions that catch so many people is thinking that happiness is outside of ourselves. We project happiness and value onto things, people, experiences, etc. We think happiness is something to be gained in the world, when really it is always within us. It is our True Nature. Nothing outside can bring us happiness.

As Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj says, “Happiness dependent upon anything is utter misery.” At the very least, it is rude for us to attribute the source of our joy and happiness to another person or anything outside of ourselves. Imagine projecting all your happiness onto a relationship with another person….how stressful that would become! We think, “Only if I’m in a relationship with this person in this way can I be happy…otherwise I’ll be miserable.” Truly, we’re already making ourselves miserable if we’re thinking that way.

It is sad to think how we can so easily lose touch with our happiness because things don’t seem to be the way we want them. Such is the nature of the mind that is programmed to keep an animal alive. It is always focusing on gaining and experiencing pleasure. It fears for its own life. Poor little ego mind! With higher awareness, we can melt the ego with compassion, and let it know truly there is nothing to far. Through direct experience, we can educate the ego and awaken it to the great joy in giving, the joy that is always present and reveals itself whenever we let go of focusing on our own wellbeing and instead, focus on others. As Gandhi says, “Joy in life comes from living for the welfare of all.”

It can look like laziness or excessive activity. Selfishness lacks balance. It is totally centered around the experience of the individual without consideration for the welfare of others, and really it even lacks considering the welfare of the individual. Even though selfishness is centered around the individual, it does not actually look out for the welfare of the individual. Rather, selfishness harms everyone and everything in the long-run. It doesn’t even benefit the perpetrator! So it is really a lose/lose. In the short-term, a selfish act like stealing can look like a win/lose, but when seen from a higher perspective, considering the long-term, we all know that stealing doesn’t even serve the one who supposedly gained from the theft. Even the thief is a loser! So selfishness is like that.

To go beyond selfishness – consider winning in the long-term. Short-term wins can look like sleeping an extra few minutes, eating three more slices of pizza, cheating on a test, stealing a candy bar, condemning homeless people, etc. but when any of the aforementioned actions are looked at from the long-term perspective, we see that they really don’t serve anyone. They don’t serve the evolution and liberation of the soul, which is what we are primarily concerned about. The earth is a school for learning, and when we act in ignorance, we don’t learn much. We might learn a little, but the learning from such actions would only be from finally admitting how they are truly painful, and that they don’t even serve us in the short-run. The minute we steal something, part of us feels bad. The minute we go past our limit and overdo, we know it, and some part of us regrets it.

Transcending selfishness requires sincerity and awareness. In Reality, the truly selfish thing to do is to prioritize your own peace and happiness above all else – because that is what we all actually want. So by all means, be selfish for that! The best part about this kind of enlightened self-interest is that it also benefits others. Because it benefits both ourselves and others, it can hardly be said to be selfish at all, or at least it is equally selfless. When you’re engaged in actions and a way of being that seems totally selfish nd also totally selfless and serviceful, that’s how you know you probably struck gold and are aligned with Truth.

Service-orientiation is the great liberating perspective to free us from selfishness. It can even be a simple focus on serving ourselves, but not just with sensory pleasures and short-term satisfactions – rather though serving ourselves with long-term fulfillment and peace. That kind of service to self serves all. Or, just forget the small self and focus on serving others – that will equally serve yourself because you’ll experience the joy of giving and transcend the illusion of separateness. When we live to serve, we realize higher consciousness and awareness that liberates us from so much darkness, ignorance, and illusion. It is only the ego that dreads service; the Highest part of all of us knows how enjoyable and pure and wonderful service is.

By all means, serve! Serve yourself by prioritizing your own peace and joy and happiness and all else, and serve others by doing the same 🙂 Or, forget yourself and just serve others however seems most natural in the present moment. Giving brings harmony. Love and give. Live only to serve! It liberates every time. Even in a moment, even if you find yourself engaged in an entirely selfish act – just stop – dedicate it to the benefit of humanity – and continue. Notice the energy shift. Notice the freedom. It is all within.